serving the faith communities of the Goulburn Valley
A library devoted to texts and artefacts from different faiths will be built at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, near Bendigo in Central Victoria, which organisers hope will attract scholars and people from around the world. The library is a project 42 years in the making when the Great Stupa’s chair, Ian Green, envisioned a library to become a leader in libraries on theology and philosophy.
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#religion. Videos with that tag have over 600 million views on Tik Tok, the popular video sharing app used mainly by teenagers. It’s clear that social media is changing how we express and explore faith. ABC Radio National interviews influences of digital religion.
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Social researcher, author and commentator, Hugh Mackay, will present a challenging, sometimes confronting, but most of all enlightening account of the messages in his two latest books Beyond Belief (2016) and The Art of Belonging (2014) at Harder Auditorium on Friday, August 12, 2016 at 7 pm.
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As Islamic extremists explode bombs and spray bullets across Baghdad and Bangladesh, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, it’s surely impossible to deny the reality of religious violence.
But renowned religious scholar William Cavanaugh of De Paul University in the United States disputes the idea. His book, The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict, argues that violence in the name of faith is no greater, maybe even less, than religion in the name of secular ideologies.
Bill Cavanaugh is in Australia this month to speak at a conference at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, and at the Centre for Public Christianity in Sydney. How does he explain the latest bout of Islamist carnage if it isn’t religious?
You and listen to this podast on ABC Radio National.
The Broken Bay Institute in partnership with The Sociological Association of Australia’s (TASA) Sociology of Religion Thematic Group will conduct the 2016 Symposium on the topic of Religion and Young People Today – Diverse Beliefs in Turbulent Times
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In observance of Mental Health Week Shepparton Interfaith Network in collaboration with Voices for Harmony conducted a forum, Religion and Mental Health at GOTAFE on Friday, 9th October. In this report, Rev. Chris Parnell explored Healthy Religion, Unhealthy Religion, and mental illness.
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In observance of Mental Health Week, Shepparton Interfaith Network in collaboration with Voices for Harmony conducted a forum, Religion and Mental Health at GOTAFE on Friday, 9th October. In this account, local psychologist Estela Hutchings gives an account of her experience as a Christian and psychologist, and the kinds of responses encountered in Christians she has worked with.
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In observance of Mental Health Week, Shepparton Interfaith Network in collaboration with Voices for Harmony conducted a forum, Religion and Mental Health at GOTAFE on Friday, 9th October. In this account, local president of the St Vincent de Paul North-East conference, Dr Frank Purcell, examines how religion was a bulwark, a support for those experiencing stress years past. Dr Purcell takes a look at migration to Shepparton by Italian, Greek and Albanian communities, and the challenges faced by those migrating from the Middle East in this day and age.
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In observance of Mental Health Week, Voices for Harmony in collaboration with Shepparton Interfaith Network conducted a forum, Religion and Mental Health at GOTAFE on Friday, 9th October. In this account, local identity, historian and well known book reviewer, Pat Crudden - who coordinates Socrates Cafe at the University of the Third Age - has kindly shared his thoughts about the speakers who presented at this forum.
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Many would deny it, but sport - particularly Australian Rules football - has strong religious overtones in Australia. Earlier this week the AFL Premiership Cup featured in a church service in Scots Church, Melbourne. One of the principal activities of the Shepparton Interfaith Network is to identify and respond to social issues (such as racism) in all forms in our region. In this article, we bring you some observations on the persistent substrata of racism in Australian Rules Football.
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Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services conducts an annual Festival of Cultures in Bendigo. A Multi-Faith Dinner and Forum will take place during the Festival on Wednesday, 18 March. The guest speaker will be Prof. Gary Bouma.
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The separation of Church and State is the basis on which Australia builds its relationship between religion and politics. This doesn’t mean that our religious beliefs and practices are not allowed to have influence and impact in the public life of our country. This article sets out how religion and politics relate in a country which accepts that there should be a separation of Church and State.
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The declaration by the ISIS jihardist group of an Islamic State, their restoration of the Caliphate and enforcement of a harsh version of Sharia law poses a serious challenge for Muslim and non-Muslim Australians. Part of the challenge will be for Muslim and non-Mulsim Australians to engage in serious dialogue on the key issues raised by this development.
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Religious education in State schools is a highly contested issue in Australia today. Part of the problem arises from the use of school time to allow religious doctrine to be taught by members of religious groups. This article argues that, distinct from religious doctrine, religious studies show the values shared by religious and secular groups. Realising that we share those values is crucial for building social cohesiveness in a multi-cultural, multi-faith society. .
A lot of attention has been paid to the low reporting of religion in the 2011 Census of all household dwellings in Australia. The Bureau of Census reports that there is a high frequency of nones - that is, no religion reported. This raises a number of questions about the Census and what is actually practiced in Australia.
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With the first round of 2011 census results recently released in June 2012, the first subject of discussion is the state of religion in Australia. Australian Census Stats have now released statistics of belief and non-belief in all areas of Australia. In this article, we explore belief generally along the so-called proliferation of non-belief in the Goulburn Valley, where the Shepparton Interfaith Network is active.
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Learning from Joseph Furphy's Spirituality was the topic of Guest Speaker Pat Crudden, at the Annual General Meeting of the Shepparton Interfaith Network.
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The lastest figures from the 2011 Census indicate that Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam are the fastest growing religions in Greater Shepparton.
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A recent VicHealth study showed that while religion can protect against illness, religious discrimination can harm health. This has led to a renewed call to embrace and respect religious diversity, protection of human rights and promotion of interfaith relations between religions.
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